Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-05-19
Same COuiurino- EeatS

GRAFT discOurseS quite enterta1n1ngly of
the tricks of modern conjurer's. Hat
tricks are very popular. There is large
variety of them. Doll babies are pro
duoed from apparently empty tiles by the
dozen; reticUles are drawn out in extra
ordinary numbers; cannon balls are IN
OK pectedly discovered in them. The doll
babies are muslin contrivances built On
skeleton springs, and car be squeezed in
to space almost as thin as wrapping
paper; the recticules are folding paste
board oontrivances, and all these articles
are fed into the hat from the pockets of
the m&gician's coat. or from the shelf be-
hind the table. The cannon ball-but
wait, aero is nice ilusion-the shower
of money it is called. The magician Dor
rows "a high silk hat from TIE audience,
and, returning to the stage, remarks that
sees money floating ia the air: he catches
at one invisible piece; and 'plunk!'' it
goes into the has. Everybody sees that
He throws it in. Now he catches at an
other piece. He throws that in, and the
>cIink is plainly heard as it strikes against
the first piece He takes coin from the
toe of his boot and throws that in. He
Guns down tae platform and picks one
'out of the beard of an auditor. In this
way he finds and throws in the hat ten
coins or more, which are afterward poured
out on a salver for q subsequ ent trick.
The Shower is accomplished in this way:
The magician has ten pieces of money
concealed in his left hand, with which he
holds toe hat. He has two coins palmed
in his right. The first of these he actu-
ally throws into the hat; the other he re-
tains through the trick, pallning and re-
palming it until the last coin is caught,
when he drops it into the hat. The mon
ely dropped. into the hat at otker times is
is slipped from the fingers of the left
hand. When the magician is apparently
Through with the hGt he starts to return
it, showing by its exposure that it IS
empty; he returns to the table, however,
and picking from the servGute with the
second finger Of his right hand, which is
inserted in q convenient hole, a woodeaa
cannon ball, by E simple 'upper move
ment of his finger the ball is inserted ian
the hat, and SIS the audience haven't seen
the magician load the hat, they are great
ly astonished when the cannon bali is az
allowed to drop to the floor
The vanishing lady is new illusion ae-
complished by means of trick chair and
a trap door. It has been recently ex-
planned, but the aerial ;sus pension act,
to which the magician will give greatest
prominence, is yet a mystery TO many
people. The Indian jugglers were the
only thabmaturguses who did this until
Robert Houdin solved it in 1949. Then
Sylvester, the Fakir or 0olu, astonishe5
London with several Improvements in it,
and De We're at the same time made g
sensation in Paris, The trick consists IN
L. J
assume various attitudes in mid air with
out other support than an upright bar
rHnder her elbow. The upright rises from
a low table about five feet long and raised
SIX inches above the stage foor. 1T can
be carelessly moved about to show that
there is no connection between the
table and the stage. Seeman, an old
time magician, after suspenaing tho sub
ject at right angles TO the support, re-
moved the support and left her reclining
In air without any visible means of sus-
pension. The mechanism Of this trick
Is complicated. The upright rests in a
socket in the low table, and the lady
wears an arm of steel or irou, padded
with socket at the elbow, which fits into
the upright rod. There is joint and
ratchet and pawl under the arm, which
maAes III pOsslOle Ior tne HlagicAan 10
move the lady into different positions.
The accompanying illustration will throw
more light upon this. Sylvester improv
ed the machinery so that lie moved the
subject by merely tanning it, and he took
away the last support. This part of the
trick is done on darkened stage. The
support is of polished brass, and VIII en-
it is apparently taken away the only
thing removed is the brass casing Of the
real support, which being the color o f
the stage drapery, is not discernible.